Who Should Be Rodgers' Backup?

[The Leaper]

We stand to have a lot of important free agents in 1-2 years, now wouldn't be a bad time to invest a goodly amount of that cap in extending some of those players.

Yeah...but who exactly do you extend? Jennings is an obvious choice, but where do you go from there?

You don't extend young guys just to extend them. They have to PROVE worthy of being a long term starter. We have a lot of guys that might get to that point in the future, but the jury is still out and Thompson won't make a move until a verdict comes in. Paying guys for one good season is a bad precident.

[wist43]

Doesn't matter...

We're not going anywhere for quite a while... TT should start looking for a starter, not a backup.

[sepporepi]

Jennings is too early to extrend. He has just played 2 years of his rookie deal.
Extend him next offseason, if he keeps up the good work.

We should extend Kampman, he is outperfoming his deal BigTime.
We should also extend Pickett, not break the bank for him, but
give him some money, so he feels appreciated.

Give Grant a nice little 2 year contract, so he isn't forced to play for his minimum contract next year. He will still be a RFA after the 2 years and we can tender him high (1+3) or just sign him to a nice long term contract then.

If Jolly plays well the first 8 games, he deserves a Jenkins-like deal.

[The Leaper]

We should extend Kampman, he is outperfoming his deal BigTime.

We just extended him prior to 2007.

We should also extend Pickett, not break the bank for him, but
give him some money, so he feels appreciated.

Why? Pickett is the kind of guy you don't extend in the middle of a deal. He's a fat guy that is a run stuffer. Sure, he's good at it...but he won't break the bank in FA, which is why we got him relatively cheap in the first place.

Give Grant a nice little 2 year contract, so he isn't forced to play for his minimum contract next year.

So Jenning plays at a near Pro Bowl level last year for 16 games, and has 2 solid years under his belt...but it's too early to extend him according to you. Grant, who has a half season to his credit and 2 years still remaining on his current deal, is your candidate for an immediate pay raise...without extending his deal? Yikes.

If Jolly plays well the first 8 games, he deserves a Jenkins-like deal.

Hell, no. Jenkins has proven he can pressure the passer. Jolly isn't anywhere near Jenkins in terms of athleticism or ability.

[sepporepi]

We just extended him prior to 2007.

That is wrong.

Kampman signed a 4 year $21 million deal on March 11, 2006, he has played two of the 4 years now. I still say extend him for 2 more years and give him some signing bonus, but don't change his base salery for the next two years.

Why?

Because he is important for the D. Without him the run D would have been nothing the last games.
He is playing a four-year, $14 million contract, signed in march 2006.

So Jenning plays at a near Pro Bowl level last year for 16 games, and has 2 solid years under his belt...but it's too early to extend him according to you. Grant, who has a half season to his credit and 2 years still remaining on his current deal, is your candidate for an immediate pay raise...without extending his deal? Yikes.

There is a difference:

Jennings got a $1.24 million signing bonus on his rookie deal, he will play his 3rd year on the deal next season.

Grant will play for the 2nd year minimum, without any bonus received if nothing is done.

Hell, no. Jenkins has proven he can pressure the passer. Jolly isn't anywhere near Jenkins in terms of athleticism or ability.

Don't know waht playing well for you means. If he is able to absolute stuff the run he is worth some money for me.[/quote]

[Merlin]

I agree that Thompson should be looking for a QB as a possible starter and not a backup. Rodgers needs to feel the heat of the competition to go anywhere. I believe Rodgers is the outright starter at this point but with no one pushing him in camp, it will be a disaster until he develops the parts of his game that aren't there yet. Without stiff competition with someone who has those skills, there is no reason for him to get better at them until he actually experiences them. Favre was a special kind of QB and proved over his career that he was prone to bone-headed mistakes right until the last throw of his career. The difference is that he made a ton more great plays that made up for it. Rodgers needs a viable starter to push him before the season starts. The Packers need it. Nall is a viable and worthy backup despite the mob mentality. All he did was what he was asked to do when he stepped on the field for us. Everyone thought Rodgers was "awesome" in his game against Dallas, but I believe Nall had a better rating and completion percentage when he stepped in under fire a few years ago. I guess for whatever reason that player has somehow disappeared now?

[Merlin]

And why isn't TJ Rubley on this list? He did have to come in from eating hot dogs on the sidelines against the Vikings when Favre and the other backup went down. Of course he blew the game for us but still...

[Brohm]

I voted for Nall. I think at the very least he would be a good game manager and has been with the organization and versed in the WCO. I would also spend a 3rd or 4th on a developmental QB (even a 2nd if value was there). I think this would show confidence in Rodgers without betting the farm on his success as he has not proven anything (I think he realizes this as well).

[Lurker64]

Without stiff competition with someone who has those skills, there is no reason for him to get better at them until he actually experiences them.

This is a curious thought. What is it about Rodgers that leads you to believe that he has no personal drive to improve himself, and would only do so as a result of direct competition?

He certainly had no competition the last three years in Green Bay, and he certainly got better during that period.

[BooHoo]

I do not think a high draft choice (someone to push ARod) is such a great idea. At this point he needs to know he has the backing of the coaches and players to gain the confidence he needs to survive. Looking over his shoulder at the new young guy can only distract his focus. I say give him a veteran backup and give him the opportunity to make a name for himself.

[Merlin]

Without stiff competition with someone who has those skills, there is no reason for him to get better at them until he actually experiences them.

This is a curious thought. What is it about Rodgers that leads you to believe that he has no personal drive to improve himself, and would only do so as a result of direct competition?

He certainly had no competition the last three years in Green Bay, and he certainly got better during that period.

It's actually quite simple: You can't get better when you don't know you are lacking something. He has things to work on that were apparent from the Dallas game. But what about th things that haven't been exposed yet? Bringing in someone to compete with him just might show Rodgers he has a thing or two to improve on that he isn't aware of yet. Practice without competition isn't going to expose game time issues. The coaches at best cn say that they think he will perform fine but without anyone there pushing for his job, he has no reason to escalate into the unknown because he doesn't know what he doesn't know yet.

[Lurker64]

It's actually quite simple: You can't get better when you don't know you are lacking something. He has things to work on that were apparent from the Dallas game. But what about th things that haven't been exposed yet? Bringing in someone to compete with him just might show Rodgers he has a thing or two to improve on that he isn't aware of yet. Practice without competition isn't going to expose game time issues. The coaches at best cn say that they think he will perform fine but without anyone there pushing for his job, he has no reason to escalate into the unknown because he doesn't know what he doesn't know yet.

Rodgers has played football before this year. The coaches have seen thousands of hours of different QBs playing the game of football. You'd think if there was something glaringly missing in Rodgers' game they'd be able to diagnose it. "Hey, this guy I have on this tape does something better than Rodgers does", isn't that hard a thought to have.